Double beta decay of 100Mo^{100}Mo: the deformed limit

The double beta decay of $^{100}Mo$ to the ground state and excited states of $^{100}Ru$ is analysed in the context of the pseudo SU(3) scheme. The results of this deformed limit are compared with the vibrational one based on the QRPA formalism. Consistency between the deformed limit and the experimental information is found for various $\beta\beta$ transitions, although, in this approximation some energies and B(E2) intensities cannot reproduced.Comment: 16 pages, revtex, no figures. Submmitted to Phys. Rev.

Megasatellites: a peculiar class of giant minisatellites in genes involved in cell adhesion and pathogenicity in Candida glabrata

Minisatellites are DNA tandem repeats that are found in all sequenced genomes. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, they are frequently encountered in genes encoding cell wall proteins. Minisatellites present in the completely sequenced genome of the pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata were similarly analyzed, and two new types of minisatellites were discovered: minisatellites that are composed of two different intermingled repeats (called compound minisatellites), and minisatellites containing unusually long repeated motifs (126–429 bp). These long repeat minisatellites may reach unusual length for such elements (up to 10 kb). Due to these peculiar properties, they have been named ‘megasatellites’. They are found essentially in genes involved in cell–cell adhesion, and could therefore be involved in the ability of this opportunistic pathogen to colonize the human host. In addition to megasatellites, found in large paralogous gene families, there are 93 minisatellites with simple shorter motifs, comparable to those found in S. cerevisiae. Most of the time, these minisatellites are not conserved between C. glabrata and S. cerevisiae, although their host genes are well conserved, raising the question of an active mechanism creating minisatellites de novo in hemiascomycetes

Current and novel therapeutic opportunities for systemic therapy in biliary cancer

none24Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are a group of rare and aggressive malignancies that arise in the biliary tree within and outside the liver. Beyond surgical resection, which is beneficial for only a small proportion of patients, current strategies for treating patients with BTCs include chemotherapy, as a single agent or combination regimens, in the adjuvant and palliative setting. Increased characterisation of the molecular landscape of these tumours has facilitated the identification of molecular vulnerabilities, such as IDH mutations and FGFR fusions, that can be exploited for the treatment of BTC patients. Beyond targeted therapies, active research avenues explore the development of novel therapeutics that target the crosstalk between cancer and stroma, the cellular pathways involved in the regulation of cell death, the chemoresistance phenotype and the dysregulation of RNA. In this review, we discuss the therapeutic opportunities currently available in the management of BTC patients, and explore the strategies that can support the implementation of precision oncology in BTCs, including novel molecular targets, liquid biopsies and patient-derived predictive tools.openMarin J.J.G.; Prete M.G.; Lamarca A.; Tavolari S.; Landa-Magdalena A.; Brandi G.; Segatto O.; Vogel A.; Macias R.I.R.; Rodrigues P.M.; Casta A.L.; Mertens J.; Rodrigues C.M.P.; Fernandez-Barrena M.G.; Da Silva Ruivo A.; Marzioni M.; Mentrasti G.; Acedo P.; Munoz-Garrido P.; Cardinale V.; Banales J.M.; Valle J.W.; Bridgewater J.; Braconi C.Marin, J. J. G.; Prete, M. G.; Lamarca, A.; Tavolari, S.; Landa-Magdalena, A.; Brandi, G.; Segatto, O.; Vogel, A.; Macias, R. I. R.; Rodrigues, P. M.; Casta, A. L.; Mertens, J.; Rodrigues, C. M. P.; Fernandez-Barrena, M. G.; Da Silva Ruivo, A.; Marzioni, M.; Mentrasti, G.; Acedo, P.; Munoz-Garrido, P.; Cardinale, V.; Banales, J. M.; Valle, J. W.; Bridgewater, J.; Braconi, C

Clinical spectrum time course in non-Asian patients positive for anti-MDA5 antibodies

Objectives: To define the clinical spectrum time-course and prognosis of non-Asian patients positive for anti-MDA5 antibodies. Methods: We conducted a multicentre, international, retrospective cohort study. Results: 149 anti-MDA5 positive patients (median onset age 53 years, median disease duration 18 months), mainly females (100, 67%), were included. Dermatomyositis (64, 43%) and amyopathic dermatomyositis (47, 31%), were the main diagnosis; 15 patients (10%) were classified as interstitial pneumonia with autoimmune features (IPAF) and 7 (5%) as rheumatoid arthritis. The main clinical findings observed were myositis (84, 56%), interstitial lung disease (ILD) (108, 78%), skin lesions (111, 74%), and arthritis (76, 51%). The onset of these manifestations was not concomitant in 74 cases (50%). Of note, 32 (21.5%) patients were admitted to the intensive care unit for rapidly progressive-ILD, which occurred in median 2 months from lung involvement detection, in the majority of cases (28, 19%) despite previous immunosuppressive treatment. One-third of patients (47, 32% each) was ANA and anti-ENA antibodies negative and a similar percentage was anti-Ro52 kDa antibodies positive. Non-specific interstitial pneumonia (65, 60%), organising pneumonia (23, 21%), and usual interstitial pneumonia-like pattern (14, 13%) were the main ILD patterns observed. Twenty-six patients died (17%), 19 (13%) had a rapidly progressive-ILD. Conclusions: The clinical spectrum of the anti-MDA5 antibodies-related disease is heterogeneous. Rapidly-progressive ILD deeply impacts the prognosis also in non-Asian patients, occurring early during the disease course. Anti-MDA5 antibody positivity should be considered even when baseline autoimmune screening is negative, anti-Ro52 kDa antibodies are positive, and radiology findings show a NSIP pattern

Tevatron and LEP-II Probes of Minimal and String-Motivated Supergravity Models

We explore the ability of the Tevatron to probe Minimal Supersymmetry with high energy scale boundary conditions motivated by supersymmetry breaking in the context of supergravity/superstring theory. A number of boundary condition possibilities are considered: dilaton-like string boundary conditions applied at the standard GUT unification scale or alternatively at the string scale; and extreme (``no-scale'') minimal supergravity boundary conditions imposed at the GUT scale or string scale. For numerous specific cases within each scenario the sparticle spectra are computed and then fed into ISAJET 7.07 so that explicit signatures can be examined in detail. We find that, for some of the boundary condition choices, large regions of parameter space can be explored via same-sign dilepton and isolated trilepton signals. For other choices, the mass reach of Tevatron collider experiments is much more limited. We also compare mass reach of Tevatron experiments with the corresponding reach at LEP 200.Comment: 44 pages, requires phyzzx.tex, tables.tex, full postscript file including embedded figures available via anonymous ftp at ucdhep.ucdavis.edu as [anonymous.gunion]bgkp.ps, preprint UCD-94-1

Search for Higgs boson decays into a pair of light bosons in the bbμμ final state in pp collision at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for decays of the Higgs boson into a pair of new spin-zero particles, H→aa, where the a-bosons decay into a b-quark pair and a muon pair, is presented. The search uses 36.1fb−1of proton–proton collision data at √s=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio (σH/σSM) ×B(H→aa →bbμμ), ranging from 1.2 ×10−4to 8.4 ×10−4in the a-boson mass range of 20–60GeV. Model-independent limits are set on the visible production cross-section times the branching ratio to the bbμμ final state for new physics, σvis(X) ×B(X→bbμμ), ranging from 0.1fb to 0.73fb for mμμ between 18 and 62GeV

Impact of clinical phenotypes on management and outcomes in European atrial fibrillation patients: a report from the ESC-EHRA EURObservational Research Programme in AF (EORP-AF) General Long-Term Registry

Background: Epidemiological studies in atrial fibrillation (AF) illustrate that clinical complexity increase the risk of major adverse outcomes. We aimed to describe European AF patients\u2019 clinical phenotypes and analyse the differential clinical course. Methods: We performed a hierarchical cluster analysis based on Ward\u2019s Method and Squared Euclidean Distance using 22 clinical binary variables, identifying the optimal number of clusters. We investigated differences in clinical management, use of healthcare resources and outcomes in a cohort of European AF patients from a Europe-wide observational registry. Results: A total of 9363 were available for this analysis. We identified three clusters: Cluster 1 (n = 3634; 38.8%) characterized by older patients and prevalent non-cardiac comorbidities; Cluster 2 (n = 2774; 29.6%) characterized by younger patients with low prevalence of comorbidities; Cluster 3 (n = 2955;31.6%) characterized by patients\u2019 prevalent cardiovascular risk factors/comorbidities. Over a mean follow-up of 22.5 months, Cluster 3 had the highest rate of cardiovascular events, all-cause death, and the composite outcome (combining the previous two) compared to Cluster 1 and Cluster 2 (all P <.001). An adjusted Cox regression showed that compared to Cluster 2, Cluster 3 (hazard ratio (HR) 2.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.27\u20133.62; HR 3.42, 95%CI 2.72\u20134.31; HR 2.79, 95%CI 2.32\u20133.35), and Cluster 1 (HR 1.88, 95%CI 1.48\u20132.38; HR 2.50, 95%CI 1.98\u20133.15; HR 2.09, 95%CI 1.74\u20132.51) reported a higher risk for the three outcomes respectively. Conclusions: In European AF patients, three main clusters were identified, differentiated by differential presence of comorbidities. Both non-cardiac and cardiac comorbidities clusters were found to be associated with an increased risk of major adverse outcomes